FTC Proposes New Online Privacy Restrictions

The Federal Trade Commission recently proposed a do-not-track privacy mechanism, which, if instated, could prevent online advertisers from profiting off of data derived from a user’s browsing history.

The New York Times reports that the proposal could “cause major harm to…small and midsize publishers and technology companies like Yahoo that earn a large percentage of their revenue from advertising that is tailored to users based on the sites they have visited.”

One of the major points of contention among advertisers, marketers, and retailers, is what the FTC exactly has in mind for the mechanism.

At this point, the “do-not-track” button is fairly vague, prompting many to ask what information will be trackable, and what information won’t.